In June, Hubby and I decided it was time for me to quit my outside the home paying job and work for our own company at home. In the spirit of full disclosure, the decision may have happened something like this . . .
I get the kids on the bus. I go to work. I am home 15 minutes after they get off the bus. We do homework. We think about food. We do a family evening activity. We go to bed. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Add into that a perpetually stressed out Mommy who is frustrated at work (love the coworkers, boss, and company - just not everything that’s happening), is grumpy when she gets home, and has no time to do any of the “stuff” you have to do at home when you have 2 kiddos and a husband who runs his own business and also has another job. Cooking dinner, cleaning the house - at all - playing with the kids, keeping up with volunteer activites (which I love and will not give up) . . . all of these things were taking a huge hit. Quite frankly, I was not being a very good wife, mother, or friend.
Ultimately, we decided it wasn’t worth it. We have enough work for me to do with our company, which I am now the CEO of (ha!) and I was also approved to work 40 hours/month for Hubby and his buddy’s company, which is doing awesome. AND, I’d have time to keep up with the adult stuff you need to do when you have kiddos and own a home as well as continue with the volunteering stuff we do.
Do I love my new gig? Absolutely! Do I miss some things about leaving the house every day? Of course!
Pro - I don’t have to be up and ready to walk out the door before the kiddos get up in the morning. I can sleep a little longer and actually make them breakfast in the morning if they want me to.
Con - I don’t have to be up and ready to walk out the door before the kiddos get up in the morning. This means, that on any given day, I may not shower until after lunch. Working in fleece pants and a t-shirt is pretty darned comfy!
Pro - I am home when the kiddos get on the bus and at the bus stop when they get off. This has really always been the case - I’ve had awesome employers who were flexible with my hours - but it’s nice to not have to worry about those days when I had an early meeting or a late phone call. I just don’t schedule them for those times.
Con - There is no con for this. It’s always been important to me and will be until the day my kiddos graduate.
Pro - I can take Duma on her run/walk every morning. This has been awesome for getting myself exercise every day, which was not happening, and also for getting her exercise every day.
Con - Duma’s expectations for how often and how much she should get to exercise is directly proportionate to the previous week’s activity 
I can no longer get away with no exercise for her for a couple days if we just can’t fit it in. This is a good thing, I guess, except for when 9:30 p.m. rolls around and she wants to play ball!
Pro - I’ve saved quite a bit of moolah and time not having to commute to work. My commute involves me walking downstairs 
Con - I don’t get to see adults as much as I’d like. Maybe that’s not true - but I don’t get to interact with other adults that have things to talk about other than their kids. Don’t get me wrong, I love my kiddos and I love to talk about them and their friends and what they’re doing . . . HOWEVER I’m still my own person and I like to talk about adult things. This, I miss. I have to make more of an effort to connect with my adult friends.
Pro - I am not such a bitch. For me, the amount of stress I feel is directly related to the amount of sleep I get.
Con - I see no con for this. I’m a much better wife, mother, and friend nowadays
Pro - I can read! And do many other things I want to after the kiddos get home from school. Where I used to come home from work and have to try to figure out how to get my other stuff done around the house while still spending time with the kiddos, now I do that stuff during the way. The work stuff and the non-paying jobs. I LOVE reading again. Been awhile since I’ve had enough energy or felt I had the time to just read for pleasure.
Con - I find myself maybe quite possibly wasting some time here and there since it seems to be so abundant compared to previously.
Pro - I get to spend more time with my kiddos. Plain and simple. The older they get, the more the need me. Not necessarily to do things for them or even with them . . . but they do need me to be available more often.
Con - They think I’m available and at their disposal 24/7 because “I’m around” all the time. So not true. I find myself reminding them that I still have full days and lots of work to do. They get it and they understand - most of the time
Pro - I get to chat more with Hubby. It used to be that we were both so involved with just trying to get everything done that “we” came last. Don’t get me wrong - we’ve always done lots of family stuff together, but it’s been nice to just get to sit and chat and do what we want every now and then. Me taking over our tiny little business has taken a little bit off of his plate so he can concentrate on his other two jobs
Pro - I have more time to think about and cook dinner at home.
Con - I have more time to think about and cook dinner at home
I could go on and on. Obviously, the pros outweigh the cons. I am so thankful that we were in a position to make the decision for me to quite my “other” job and work at home. I am even more thankful that I have a loving, understanding husband who realized that the change needed to happen and was willing to change a few things to make it happen.
